Sound-screening attachment for windows and doorways



Feb. 15 1927-.

E. 'r. FISK SOUND SCREENING ATTACHMENT FOR WINDOWS AND DOORWAYS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed A z- 29, 1924 Feb. 15, 1927.

E T. FISK SOUND SCREENING ATTACHMENT FOR WINDOWS AND DOORWAYS Filed Aug. 29, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v 1,617,384 F 15v1927- E. T. FISK SOUND SCREENING ATTACHMENT FOR WINDOWS AND DOORWAYS Filed Aug. 29, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Feb. 15, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

ERNEST THOMAS FISK, OF DOUBLE BAY, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA.

SOUND-SCREENING ATTACHMENT FOR WINDOWS AND DOORWAYS.

Application filed August 29, 1924, Serial No In the busy quarters of cities, ventilation must frequently be sacrificed by the closing of windows and transoms'when it is desired to exclude penetration of street noises into 5 oflice apartments. These noises reach the Window openings either directly from the propagation source or by reflection from opposite buildings or from other reflecting bodies in the location.

Similarly, in the case of residential flats and hotels, annoyance is experienced from traffic and other street noises and from noises proceeding from other apartments in the same or adjacent buildings.

In all cases the desideratum is to maintain facility for ventilation and/or illumination whilst providing against transmission of externally generated noises into apartments.

This object is accomplished by fitting to the external window apertures in the walls of the apartment a sound screening device, which may be a fixture or may be removable, and which may be adjustable in position. This device is adapted structurally for deflecting and/or absorbing external noises, and, optionally, is also adapted for reflecting natural light into the apartment and for promoting ventilation through the wall aperture.

The device is structurally modified to meet the particular circumstances of each case, so as to function with maximum efliciency in those circumstances, and it may beso constructed that its position may be varied conformably to the direction from which noise reaches it, thus to obtain the best effect. In the case of windows in a flat building opening on to an area for instance, the de- 'vice when adjustable may be arranged so that it will operate with best efliciency as may be required to screen noise proceeding from either right or left, or from below, or even from an upper position in the area.

In the case of windows opening on to a street-where the source of objectionable noise arises only from the road traffic, provision for adjustment is usually not necessary.

. The device is in such cases preferably a fixture arranged for deflecting noises which come upwardly from the road and come b reflection transversely from opposite buil mgs.

l 735,044, and in Australia September 10, 1923.

Tests made with'apparatus constructed according to the present invention applied to window apertures overlooking a street carrying heavytrafiic have shown that incoming noise may be diminished by as much as 80% without injuriously affecting the yen-- tilation or the lighting of an office apart- ,nient.

In its simplest fixed form the device consists of a deflector or sound screening plate angularly disposed from the vertical and positioned in front of a window aperture, with its bottom edge located a few inches out from the window sillor a few inches below the window sill. The angular spaces between either side of this deflector and the wall are closed with filler panels, thus producing a hopper-like structure which is open at top and bottom and at the back of it. Light may pass downwardly into thishopper and suffer reflection from its interior surfaces into the apartment; this reflection of light may be augmented by facing the interior surfaces of the hopper with a white finish or otherwise making it an eflicient reflector. The deflector plate and the wing plates may be structurally devised to absorb within their substance more or less of the energy of the sound waves which impinge on their external surfaces. The external surfaces of the plate and wings may be either curved or corrugated or plane, and may be either smooth or rough. If the hop r be made of wood, it may be lined interiorly with kapok or other sound absorbing material covered with canvas to form a surface which may be painted white or in any light tint to augment light reflection. If a transparent screen is preferred it may be constructed as a frame filled with glass panels in the outer side and if desired also in the lateral portions of it. In such cases it is preferable to use two panes of glass separated by an air space; the glass, whether single or double, may be divided intopanels of small area. If a pane of large area is preferred, its sound screening cfliciency may be enhanced by placing studs or cross pieces of sound absorbent material on its surface in such manner as to dampen any vibration in the pane and thus minimize its tendency to transmit sound waves.

The frontal deflector plate may be made In the preferred arrangement for office' building windows, the deflector panel is made of rectangular shape and is hingedly mounted on fixed pivots at or near its bottom end and is fitted with an adjustable stay by which its vertical angular position may be varied so that its top edge may be approached towards the window aperture or set out more or less from it so as to leave an open space of greater or less area at the top to facilitateventilation and to admit top light. By sub-dividing this panel trans vcrsely and separately mounting the sections of it on pivotal supports, the respective sections of it may be disposed at different angles. Or it may be divided vertically and the two sections of itthen made to fold as easements.

The hopper, being open bottomed and open topped, is a flue-like structure which encloses the otherwise open window aperture in the apartment wall. External heat from the suns rays acting on its surfaces promotes an upward circulation-of air through the hopper, thus inducing ventilation currents out of the apartment and up through the hopper. Ventilation may also be facilitated, whether or not the deflector plate is jointed or made adjustable in position, by hinging the lateral wing panels so that either-or both of them may be swung either outward or inward. Scoop ventllation to take advantage of passing currents of air may be ob tained by directing the open end (top) of the hopper towards a natural air current.

' To obtain the best advantage the structure should be of sufficient size to surround the whole of the window opening laterally, or to surround laterally the whole of the lower part of the window aperture when th upper part of it is closed by .window sashes.

Appropriate provision is made for intercepting and draining rain water so that it will not be directed into the apartment by the deflector. The open space 'at the bottom of the hopper is fitted with a hinged flap or a sliding-flap which may be opened or closed at will to govern ventilation, to check upwardly directed noise, and to allow rain which falls into the hopper to pass out.

In order to throw off rain when the hopper is swun outwardly so that the deflector plate is isposed angularly to overhang the street, a folding canopy or shield is pivotally hung from the top part of the wall aperture and arranged so that it may be set out over the open top of the hopper. Thls canopy .or shield is usually constructed of glass in order to minimize light transmission loss. This canopy or an additional one may used to protect the upper part of the wall aperture against intrusion of sound waves from below and thus ermit the ordinary window sashes to be is ensed with while avoiding an undesirable engthening of the main screenin late.

When the deflector plate and the wings and the top shield or one or more of those elements are constructed of glass, the device functions as a heat trap which promotes a ventilation current of air outward.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical section showing the deflector fitted in a full open wall aperture, the main deflector occupying the lower portion of the aperture and the top shield the upper portion of the aperture; the position of the parts when inclosed is shown in dotted lines;

Fig. .2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 Fig. 1;

Figs. 3, 4, and 5, are fragmentary sections showin various details of construction of the de ector frame and the deflector panel and its lateral wings;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section similar to the section shown in Fig. 1, but showing also the arrangement used when sliding sashes are fitted in the wall-aperture;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view indicating the structure of the hopper deflector when the main deflector plate is divided" vertically to form two casement-like folding sections; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the hopper when constructed with the main deflector plate divided horizontally and the sections of it respectively pivot mounted so that they may be set either in alignment or in louver arrangement.

In Fig. 1, 10 is the wall, in the aperture in which the deflector is fitted. As here shown the wall aperture is not fitted with a sash. It might be fitted with sashes at the inner face of the wall in the case of very thick walls, but in the case of walls of normal thickness the deflector device shown is used in an open ner pieces 29 which are secured by light bolts 17. The invention is not, however, di-

rected to the detail construction of the ally preferable to conserve light by con-.

structing them of glass. The deflector plate 12 and the wing plates 13 may be double walled with an unfilled interstitialspace, or

said space may be filled with a sound absorb- Y ing substance, or pads or bars of nonresonant material may be'fixed to the glass surface to minimize vibration. When it isnot'" necessary to conserve light, all the plates 12 and 13 may be constructed of metal or of fibro cement or of wood.- The frame is mounted at the inner bottom corners of it on fixed pivots 16 which are positionally disposed so,that when the frame is swung outward, the wall aperture (or the lower part of it) will be surrounded frontally and laterally by the plates 12 and 13; these plates its bottom end if desired being brought more or less below the sill level. The open bottom of this hopper-like structure is provided with a closure which may take the form of a hinged flap 17 mounted on the sill lining 18 and provided with a stay by whichits position maybe adjusted and fixed. The hopper structure is also provided with a stay 20 at either or both sides of it, these stays being of appropriate mechanical. construction for effe'cti ng the inward and outward swinging movement of the hopper and for supporting the hopper when outswung and holding it locked when insw-ung. The bottom flap l'i'is opened as. required for the urpose of permitting ventilation upward t rough the ho per or for the purpose of allowing rain fa mg into the hopper to pass through without flooding the apartment. In order to provide a neat arrangement, the wall aperture is lined on either side with casings 21 offering behind each of them a clearance s ace 22 in which the wings 13 of the hopperike structure, and the stay mechanism, are'accommodated and facility voffered for moving the hopper inward from full line position Fig. 1

to the dotted line position, Fig. 1.

When the hopper is not constructed for the full height 0 the wall aperture, a can- 'opy or shield 23 is provided; this canopy or tion shown in the full lines, Fig. 1, the shield 23 may be swung out as shown in that figure, in .which case it will deflect falling rain and prevent flooding of the hopper whilst still permitting light to pass. transversely and downward into the apartment. Alternatively it may be swung fully inward to the position shown in'the inner dotted lines 2 1, Fig.

1, thusto cause it to act also as a sound de- 'flector. When the hopper is inclosed and the shield swung in to contact with-its top edge, they take up the respective positions shown in dotted lines, and together form a complete closure which fills the wall aperture. When the hopper 12 is constructed for the full height of the wall aperture the shield 23 is omitted from the arrangement.

As an additional security against the intrusion of noise'into an apartment when the hopper is set out as seen in Fig. 1, an additional top edgedeflector may be fitted in either position shown diagrammatically by the full lines X and Y Fig. 1.

It is to be understood that two or more hopper deflectors may be used in tier arrangement in the case of tall window apertures, and that any one or more of such deflectors may be. either fixed or movable according to the desired arrangement.

The modified arrangement indicated in Fig. 7 requires the fitting of subframes 30 in the main frame of the hopper, and the vertical subdivision of the plate '12 to form two panels 31 and 32 which may be swung inward, and if desired outward also, in the carries thedefiector plate 12. The two transom-like anels 35 and 36 thus formed may be set as ouvers, or may be set in alignment,

to provide in the one case an open space fronting the wall aperture, and in the other case to constitute what is in'eife'ct a single deflector panel. In thislouver; arrangement the ends of the swinging panels are fitted with sector plates 37 which enclose the angular spaces at the ends of 'those panels when they are disposed in louver arrangement.

, What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

- 1. A soundscreenin device for a wall aperture comprisin a hopper-like structure closed in front and at either side and open at the top and bottom .of it, the lower edges of the hopper sides being extended substantially beyond the outer face of the wall.

'2. A sound screening device consisting of. a hopper-like structure closed in front and at either side and open at the top and bottom in which the lower edges of the hopper sidesare extended below the level of the bottom of the wall aperture and substantially be yond the outer face of the wall.

3. A sound screening device comprising a hopper-like structure closed in front and at either side and open at the top and bottom and having an opening between the wall and the bottom end of the hopper with a movable closure in the form of a flap for said opening to admit air for ventilation and to deflect sound waves arriving from below.

l. A sound screening device according to claim 1 fitted with sound non-transmitting plates.

5. A sound screening device according to claim 1 movably mounted on fixed pivotal centres to overhang the outer face of the wall, and to permit angular adjustment of said device in relation to the plane of the wall.

6. A sound screening device according to claim 1 mounted at its bottom end on fixed pivotal centres which are located near the outer face of the wall and having lateral plates disposed in clearance spaces between the sides of the wall aperture and liners within said aperture.

7. A sound screening device according to claim 1 supported for adjustment in a veraeraeea tical plane about fixed pivots, said structure being disposed substantially beyond the outer face of the wall, and adapted to be swung inwardly about said pivots towards the wall to completely close the aperture and outwardly from the wall to enclose a space in front ofthe aperture frontally and laterally.

8. A sound screening device according to claim 1 having the main deflector plate divided and its parts pivotally mounted and adapted to be moved angularly about the pivots.

9. A sound screening device according to claim 1 including a shield above it, said shield being'hung at itstop end on pivotal supports which are fixed within the wall aperture above the movable hopper.

10. A sound screening device according to claim 3 characterized in that said device may be angularly disposed to the vertical towards or away from the wall aperture, thereby to render it etlicient as a deflector for sounds coming from sources located either below, opposite to, or above the wall aperture, whilst at the same time permitting adequate ventilation.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ERNEST THOMAS FISK. 

